Ohio’s minimum wage will go up to $11 an hour for non-tipped workers and $5.50 for tipped employees on Jan. 1.
This is a 2.8% increase from the current 2025 minimum wage of $10.70 for non-tipped employees and $5.35 for tipped employees, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Ohioans passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 that increases the state minimum wage every year based on the consumer price index.
Ohio is one of 19 states that will raise its minimum wage on Jan. 1, according to the National Employment Law Project.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not gone up since 2009.
A couple of Democratic bills would raise Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, but neither of those bills have had any hearings.
Ohio Senate Bill 234 would raise the minimum wage by a dollar per hour each year until reaching $15 per hour in 2029. Ohio State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Ohio Sen. Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, introduced the bill.
The bill would also eliminate the tipped employee minimum wage and require all employees to be paid the state’s minimum wage.
Ohio House Bill 34 would increase the state’s minimum wage to $11 per hour on Jan. 1, 2026, $12 per hour in 2027, $13 per hour in 2028, $14 per hour in 2029, and $15 per hour in 2030.
Twelve states and Washington, D.C. will have minimum wages of $15 or more as of Jan. 1, according to the National Employment Law Project.
Ohioans need to be making at least $22.51 an hour working a full-time job to be able to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment, according to a recent report by Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.